The reason I'm not running Linux on the desktop yet, is the vast library of educational software my school has (primary school) that is windows only. If all we needed were word processing / spreadsheet / publications / graphics editing / email / web browsing, then we'd have a fully linux network already.
Umm, do the kids have a choice of Linux or MS for the tasks that do not involve the MS only software?
Dual booting will not work - they will stay in the OS they use for whatever tool they use the most. if they need to reboot into windows to use the reader software they use everyday, they will definitely not boot back into linux to read email or do word processing. There is no point dualbooting in a class environment.
More to the question, would they handle the choice and be able to switch between Linux and MS without much of a problem?
Regardless of whether they could handle it or not, in practice they wont. If they can read email and do word processing under Windows, they'll do it there. I could not set it up for them - but then they'll complain, and the Linux partition will go unused. They wont even log out of the teacher account to get the students to use a word processor - they just load the word proccessor up under their login and let the children use it there. Sadly, it has to be a complete switch. Note, this is a primary school, which is why we have so much educational software that is required. Computers are not a generic tool in a primary school, as much as a means of providing education. They act as another teacher aid doing pronunciation and reading tests, or interactive maths challenges. In a secondary school, they are a more of a tool.